Governor
Howard Dean, M.D.'s speech to the Democratic National Convention in Boston,
July 27, 2004

I was hoping
for a reception like this. I was just hoping that it would be on Thursday
night, instead of on Tuesday night.

I may not be the nominee, but
I can tell you this: For the next hundred days, I'll be doing everything
I can to make sure that John Kerry and John Edwards take our country back
for the people who built it. Because tonight, we're all here to represent
the Democratic wing of the Democratic party.

I'm proud of John Kerry's
leadership, and I intend to stand shoulder to shoulder with him as we
fight for the things Harry Truman promised in 1948: health insurance for
every American, a real jobs plan to create jobs instead of destroy them.
Standing up for middle class and working Americans who got a tax increase,
not a tax cut. And a foreign policy that relies on telling the truth to
the American people before we send our brave American soldiers to fight
in foreign lands. I'd like a commander-in-chief who supports our
soldiers and our veterans, instead of cutting their hardship pay when
they're abroad, and their health benefits when they get home.

I'm Howard Dean. And I'm
voting for John Kerry.

I'm voting for John Kerry
and John Edwards because I'm tired of seeing hard-working Americans
struggling with jobs that pay less than they did four years ago. I'm
voting for John Kerry and John Edwards because I want a president and
vice president as good and as strong as the American people. And I'm
voting for John Kerry and John Edwards because I want to see America restored
as the moral leader of the world.

America's greatness rests
on far more than the power of our arms. Our greatness is also measured
by our goodness. It is in the capacity of our minds, the size of our hearts,
and the strength of our democracy.

As I've traveled America, I've
seen that strength. I've seen it in the people I've met and their desire
to take our country back for the American people. I saw it in a college
student in Pennsylvania who sold her bicycle and sent us a check for $100
with a note that said, "I sold my bicycle for democracy."I saw it in a
woman from Iowa who handed me $50-all in quarters. She saved it from her
monthly disability check, because she wanted to make America well again.
And I saw it in the 19-year-old from Alabama who had never been involved
in politics before he got in his car and drove up to Vermont, because
he didn't feel like he was being heard in Washington.

He was just one of so many.
They learned that politics was too important to be left to the politicians.
They didn't just pack their bags­they backed their hopes that
we can take our country back. And you know what? We will.

We're not going to be
afraid to stand up for what we believe. We're not going to let those
who disagree with us shout us down under a banner of false patriotism.
And we're not going to give up a single voter, or a single state.
We're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats, not just here
in Boston. We're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats in
Mississippi, proud to call ourselves Democrats in Utah and Idaho. And
we're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats in Texas.

Never again will we be ashamed
to call ourselves Democrats. Never. Never. Never. We're not just
going to change presidents, we're going to change this country and
reclaim the American dream.

To everyone who supported me
­ you've given me so much, and I can't thank you enough.
But this was never about me. It was about us. It was about giving new
life to our party, new energy to our democracy, and providing hope again
for the greatest nation on earth.

And so, today, even though
you have already given so much- I want to ask you to give one more thing:
Give America President John Kerry. Together, we can take our country back.
And only you have the power to make it happen.